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...Parents welcome probe

By
—Anna Ramdass

Story Created:
Mar 19, 2014 at 11:24 PM ECT

Story Updated:
Mar 21, 2014 at 11:10 AM ECT

Parents of baby Simeon expressed relief yesterday that a team was appointed to probe their baby’s death and said they hope they will get answers soon.Quelly Ann Cottle and Emil Millington, after their son’s funeral yesterday, told the Express that they hope that the team dives straight into the investigation and makes recommendations that change or improve the health sector and save other babies from dying.A team comprising United Kingdom specialist Dr Melanie Clare Davies, neonatologist Dr Petronella Manning-Alleyne and retired justice Mustapha Ibrahim has been appointed by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan to probe the baby’s death. Baby Simeon died on March 1 during a Caesarean section in which his head was cut open by Dr Javed Chinnia who has since been suspended.Millington said he is happy to read Attorney General Anand Ramlogan’s comments that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, before leaving the country Monday to attend a funeral in the US insisted that the matter not be swept under the carpet. The Express contacted Manning-Alleyne who said she has no comment to make on the matter as she has been sworn to secrecy.Chairman of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) Dr Shehenaz Mohammed, in a telephone interview, said the composition of the probe team was balanced and “all facets of the event seem to be represented in the expertise of the team”.The NCRHA, she said, will fully cooperate with the investigation and she expects that there will be transparency and accountability as well as persons be given the opportunity to represent themselves.Mohammed said that in the health sector there are mishaps and rare cases of negligence but there was also a lot of good that goes unnoted and unrecognised.“What we plan to do now is to build on that good and that trust and try to revive Mt Hope Women’s hospital in a positive direction for everything that happens there is a good,” she said.Mohammed said she will welcome any recommendations to improve the public health sector from the investigative team especially as it relates to maternal and child health.She said Davies coming from a UK background was a plus as this country’s health system was inherited from the United Kingdom and her input would be vital.